An introduction to Systems Engineering

Antonio Moschitta
Outline
• Definitions and scope of Systems Engineering (SE)
• Value of SE
• History
• SE main standards and organizations
• DoD Model
• NASA Model
• INCOSE Model
• SE Challenges
• SE Design Space
Definitions
• A System is…
• “a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified
whole ” [1]
• “a group of devices or artificial objects or an organization forming a
network especially for distributing something or serving a common
purpose” [1]
• “Simply stated, a system is an integrated composite of people, products,
and processes that provide a capability to satisfy a stated need or
objective.” [2]
• “A system is an arrangement of parts or elements that together exhibit a
meaning or behavior that the individual constituents do not” [16]
• Some implied concepts: interrelation, boundaries, emergent properties
Definitions
• A System can be described in terms of properties [25]:
• Entities - Parts of a system
• Attributes - Perceivable and measurable characteristics of an entity (size,
color, quantity, temperature…)
• Relationships – Associations between entities and attributed, based on cause
andeffect
• The system properties should be described using a proper language
Definitions
• Systems Engineering (SE) is…
• “an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering
management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage
complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering
utilizes systems thinking principles to organize this body of
knowledge. The individual outcome of such efforts, an engineered
system, can be defined as a combination of components that work in
synergy to collectively perform a useful function.” [Wiki]
• “SE is defined as a methodical, multi-disciplinary approach for the
design, realization, technical management, operations, and
retirement of a system.” [3]
Definitions
• Systems Engineering (SE) is…
• ‘a transdisciplinary and integrative approach to enable the successful
realization, use and retirement of engineered systems, using systems
principles and concepts, and scientific, technological, and
management methods’ [16]
• NB: implies the concept of life cycle
• Some keywords: “Holistic”, “Integrative”, “Balance”, “Systems
Thinking”, “Complexity”
Definitions
• Systems Engineering (SE) is…
• ‘A process enabling the design and realization of a system that is too
complex to be treated as a monolithic entity’
Definitions
• Systems thinking: “Systems thinking was launched by Ludwig von
Bertalanffy and others in the 1950s as an interdisciplinary movement
with a broad and bold scientific program. The movement attempts to
overcome the dominating mechanistic world picture and related
reductionism in the sciences which is regarded as one of the main
causes of the problems of the modern world.” [17]
• Reductionism: “a view that asserts that entities of a given kind are
identical to, or are collections or combinations of, entities of another
(often simpler or more basic) kind or that expressions denoting such
entities are definable in terms of expressions denoting other entities.
T” [18, Enciclopedia Britannica]
Definitions
• Systems thinking
• A philosophy (“system thinking is simply thinking about something as a
system: the existence of entities-the parts, the chunks, the pieces-and the
relationships between them.” [Prof. Edward Crawley, MIT])
• NB: both technical and social parts!
• ‘A sensitivity to the circular nature of the world we live in’ [21]
• A diagnostic tool (medicine, [21])
• A set of tools

• See also [22]

Definitions
• Systems thinking approach requires to understand [23]
• ‘The principles underlying the system’
• ‘The methods used to think about the system’
• ‘The concrete tools that system thinkers activate each day’
• “Systems Thinking looks at relationships (rather than unrelated
objects), connectedness, process (rather than structure), the whole
(rather than just its parts), the patterns (rather than the contents) of a
system, and contect” [R. Ackoff with H. Addison and A. Carey, Systems
Thinking for Curious Managers, Triarchy Press, 2010]
Definitions
• Systems thinking requires a shift in thinking, moving away from the
exclusively analytic thinking (aka reductionism) embraced during the
Enlightment and embracing also synthetic thinking.
• Analytic approach (Ackoff and Rovin, Redesigning Society)
1) Take the thing of event to be understood apart
2) Explain the behavior of the parts taken separately
3) Aggregate the explanation of the parts into an understanding of the whole
Definitions
• Systems thinking requires a shift in thinking, moving away from the
exclusively analytic thinking embraced during the Enlightment and
embracing also synthetic thinking.
• Synthetic approach (Ackoff and Rovin, Redesigning Society)
1) Identify one or more system that contain the system to be explained
2) Explain the behavior of the containing system
3) Disaggregate the understanding of the containing system into the role or
function of the system to be explained
SE History
• 50s
• 1951: Mervin J. Kelly (Bell Labs) mentions Systems Engineering as a
mean to support new endeavours
• 1956: Schlager mentions «complexity» and «Systems Functions», and
SE as a separate field
• 1957: E.W. Engstrom mentions people and their interactions with
technology
• 1957: First textbook, ‘Systems Engineering: An Introduction to the
Design of Large-Scale Systems’
SE History
• 60s
• 1962: Arthur Hall (Bell) defines characteristics of a Systems Engineer
(book: ‘A Methodology for Systems Engineering’)
• 1967: Bode portrays the Systems Engineer as an architect, mentioning
aestethics (elegant solutions to complex problems)
• 1969: MIL-STD-499, MILITARY STANDARD: SYSTEM ENGINEERING
MANAGEMENT, updated in 1974. Leads to DoD acquisition planning
Definitions
• Architect [Cambridge Dictionary]:
• Someone whose job is to design buildings
But also…
• Someone who designs a plan and puts it into operation
Definitions
• Complicated vs complex:
• A complicated system can be resolved with enough computing power (still
solvable and deterministic)
• A complicated system is typically linear and predictable
• A clockwork is a good example of a complicated system

• A complex system may not be complicated, but has emergent properties and
may not admit a closed form solution
• Moreover, the complexity may manifest as a non-linear behavior
• The brain is a good example of a complex system
Complicated
Complex
Image source: https://www.tl4e.nl/images/complicated_vs_complex_systems_v01.jpg
Definitions
• Some linear models:
• 𝑦 = 2𝑥
𝑦1 𝑎11 𝑎12 𝑥1
• 𝑦 = 𝑎 𝑎
2 21 22 𝑥2
• 𝑌 = 𝐴𝑋 + 𝐵
Definitions
• A linearized model:
• 𝑦 = 𝑓 𝑥 , 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑥 = 𝑥0
𝑑𝑓(𝑥)
• 𝑦 ≅ 𝑓 𝑥0 + ቚ ∙ (𝑥 − 𝑥0 )
𝑑𝑥 𝑥=𝑥0
is a 1st order Taylor expansion, aka a
linearized model
• Example (figure on the right):
• 𝑦 = 𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥2
𝑑𝑓
• = 2𝑥
𝑑𝑥
• 𝑥0 = 0.7, 𝑓 𝑥0 = 𝑥02 = 0.49
A simple system with a non-linear solution
𝑉𝐷 𝑉𝐷 𝑉𝐷
• Diode: 𝐼 = 𝐼0 𝑒 𝑉𝑇 − 1 ≅ 𝐼0 𝑒 𝑉𝑇 , se 𝑒 𝑉𝑇 >>1
VD

𝑉𝑅 VI I
• Resistor: 𝐼 = R VR
𝑅
• Circuit: 𝑉𝐼 = 𝑉𝐷 + 𝑉𝑅 , 𝑉𝑅 = 𝑉𝐼 − 𝑉𝐷
𝑉𝐷 𝑉𝐷
𝑉𝐼 −𝑉𝐷
• = 𝐼0 𝑒 𝑉𝑇 , 𝑉𝐷 = 𝑉𝐼 − 𝑅𝐼0 𝑒 𝑉𝑇
𝑅
• Transcendental Equation 𝑥 = 𝑎 + 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑥
A simple system with a non-linear solution
𝑉𝐷 𝑉𝐷 𝑉𝐷
• Diode: 𝐼 = 𝐼0 𝑒 𝑉𝑇 − 1 ≅ 𝐼0 𝑒 𝑉𝑇 , se 𝑒 𝑉𝑇 >>1
VD
𝐼
𝑉𝐷 = 𝑉𝑇 𝑙𝑛
𝐼0 VI I
𝑉𝑅 R VR
• Resistor: 𝐼 =
𝑅
• Circuit: 𝑉𝐼 = 𝑉𝐷 + 𝑉𝑅

𝐼 𝑉𝑅 𝑅
• 𝑉𝐼 = 𝑉𝑇 𝑙𝑛 + 𝑉𝑅 𝑅 = 𝑉𝑇 𝑙𝑛 + 𝑉𝑅 𝑅
𝐼0 𝐼0
𝑉𝐼 𝑉𝑇 𝑉 𝑅
• 𝑉𝑅 = + 𝑙𝑛 𝑅
𝑅 𝑅 𝐼0
• Trascendental equation 𝑥 = 𝑎 + 𝑏 ∙ 𝑙𝑛(𝑐𝑥)
 A simple system with a chaotic behavior
x
• The logistic map
• 𝑥𝑛+1 = 𝑟 ∙ 𝑥𝑛 1 − 𝑥𝑛

• NB: chaos and complexity are r

related but different concepts!
Image source: [27]
• See [29-32]
Image source: [28]
Chaoticity vs Complexity
• Chaos is the generation of a complicated aperiodic behavior from the
iteration of a simple rule (and from the interaction of a few elements)
• Complexity is the generation of a collective dynamical behavior from
simple interaction of many subunits (temporal interaction!), that
introduces emergent properties.
• Both feature non-linear dynamic
• Both are sensitive to initial conditions (butterfly principle)
• Complex systems are sometimes considered «high order-chaos», and can
exhibit «self-organization», also called «anti-chaos»
• Complex systems may include feedback and may be non-Markovian (i.e.
they have memory)
Chaoticity vs Complexity
• “Thus, chaos is concerned with a few parameters and the
dynamics of their values, while the study of complex systems is
concerned with both the structure and the dynamics of systems
and their interaction with their environment.” [30]
Further readings on Complexity
• “A complexity Primer for Systems Engineers,” INCOSE White
Paper, 2015.
SE History
• 80s-90s
• 1989: International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) is
founded and led by Brian Mar
• 1995: NASA publishes ‘Systems Engineering Handbook’ (NASA/SP-
6105)
SE History
• 2000+
• 2005: ISO publishes the first standard defining SE application and
management
• Risk Management is introduced
Definition
• Risk [24]: ‘According to ISO 31000, risk is the “effect of uncertainty on
objectives” and an effect is a positive or negative deviation from what
is expected.’
• ‘The level of risk is its magnitude. It is estimated by considering and
combining consequences and likelihoods. A level of risk can be
assigned to a single risk or to a combination of risks.’
A Risk Matrix

Image source: https://oversitesentry.com/risk-management-does-not-work/

 Definitions
• Systems Engineering (SE) focuses on…

Source: [14], page 2

Definitions
• Verification vs Validation [see also 3, pag. 89]
• Verification: “A test of a system to prove that it meets all its specified
requirements at a particular stage of its development.” [IEEE Std 610, IEEE
Standard Glossary of Software Engineering], (i.e. takes place while the
process is under development)
• Validation: “An activity that ensures that an end product stakeholder’s true
needs and expectations are met.” [IEEE Std 610, IEEE Standard Glossary of
Software Engineering] (i.e. takes place when the system is complete)
• Verification occurs before validation (see also [25])
Definitions
• Lifecycle
• ‘The series of changes that a living thing goes through from the beginning of
its life until death’ [20, Cambridge Dictionary]
• SE Lifecycle
• ‘A life cycle for a system generally consists of a series of stages regulated by a
set of management decisions which confirm that the system is mature
enough to leave one stage and enter another.’ [12, Guide to SEBOK]
 Value of SE

Relation of SE Investments to
NASA Program Cost Overruns
(Stutzke 2005). Released by
NASA HDQRT/Gruhl.

• Sources: INCOSE Guide to SEBOK, page 52, and

https://sebokwiki.org/w/images/sebokwiki-farm!w/5/5d/NASA_Image_Part_1.png
Value of SE

• NB: large projects are prone to overruns (overtime/overbudget)!

• Es: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, F35 Airplane

• https://www.panorama-consulting.com/top-10-erp-failures/
• https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/03/22/billions-upgrade-cost-
overruns-put-f-35-fighter-risk-meeting-deadlines-report-finds.html (‘Turkey out
of the supply system’)
• https://www.fedweek.com/armed-forces-news/report-f-35-behind-schedule-
over-budget/ (‘overtime overbudget’)
• https://thehill.com/policy/defense/549490-f35-cockpit-upgrade-has-444-million-
overrun/ (‘more complex than expected’)
 Value of SE

‘How much SE is enough?’

• Source: INCOSE Guide to SEBOK, page 53

Systems Engineering main organizations and
standards
• DoD [2]
• NASA [3]
• INCOSE [7,16]
• IEEE Systems Council
• ISO, IEC…
Source: [7]
DOD Model
• (USA) DoD: Department of Defence
• USA DoD Approach [2, Chapter 1]:
• Main activities of SE Management (page 4)
• Development Phasing
• System Engineering Processes
• Life Cycle Integration
• Architecture of a System Design Process (page 6)
• Related disciplines
• System Implementation Engineering (translates architectural design into an actual
system, see also https://sebokwiki.org/wiki/Implementation_(glossary) )
• System Management Engineering (SEBOK: Managing the resources and assets
allocated to perform systems engineering activities)
Image source: [2]
NASA Model
• NASA: (USA) National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• NASA Approach [3, pag 5-7]: the SE Engine
• System Design Processes
• Technical Management Processes
• Product Realization Processes
• NASA SE processes are aligned to AS9100 Requirements [3, page 7]
PP&C: Process Planning and Control

Source: [3]
Source: [3]
 INCOSE Model

Source: INCOSE SEBOK

 Systems Engineering
SEBOK stewards: INCOSE, the
IEEE Systems Council, and
Stevens Institute of Technology.

• Image source:
https://sebokwiki.org/wiki/Guide_to_the_Systems_Engineering_Body_of_Knowledge_(SEBoK)
SE Models
• Common elements
• SE seen as a process (or as a network of processes)
• Stakeholders
• Focus on Lifecycle
Definitions (recalled)
• Lifecycle
• ‘The series of changes that a living thing goes through from the beginning of
its life until death’ [20, Cambridge Dictionary]
• SE Lifecycle
• ‘A life cycle for a system generally consists of a series of stages regulated by a
set of management decisions which confirm that the system is mature
enough to leave one stage and enter another.’ [12, Guide to SEBOK]
• Will be further developed…
SE challenges (problem class vs time)
• Ancient ages/middle age: city organization (large cities, mobile cities)
• Industrial Revolution: transportation systems, large scale industrial
production systems
• WW II: real time command of large multinational ground, air, and
asea forces
• 1950+: operational research, cybernetics (Weiner 1948), system
dynamics (Forrester 1961), general systems theory (Bertalanffy 1968),
and mathematical systems engineering theory (Wymore 1977).
• 1960-1990: human factor, software. Shift to soft SE
SE challenges (method)
• Problem description
• Conflicting requirements
• Predicting/handling unexpected behavior (for instance: emergent
properties)
SE challenges (system to be realized)
• Problems solved by the Systems Engineer:
• Top-down (clean Slate): new project
• Middle out: project in presence of legacy systems to interface with
• Bottom-up (reverse engineering): upgrade/replacement of a non fully
documented legacy system
SE Challenges (balance)
• The Systems Engineer Dilemma [3, page 12]
• ‘At each cost-effective solution:
• To reduce cost at constant risk, performance must be reduced.
• To reduce risk at constant cost, performance must be reduced.
• To reduce cost at constant performance, higher risks must be accepted.
• To reduce risk at constant performance, higher costs must be accepted.
• In this context, time in the schedule is often a critical resource, so that
schedule behaves like a kind of cost.’
SE challenges
• ‘Traditional hardware-oriented SE featured sequential processes, pre-
specified requirements, functional-hierarchy architectures,
mathematics-based solutions, and single-step system development. A
Soft Systems approach to SE is characterized by emergent
requirements, concurrent definition of requirements and solutions,
combinations of layered service-oriented and functional-hierarchy
architectures, heuristics-based solutions, and evolutionary system
development. Good examples are societal systems (Warfield 1976),
soft systems methodology (Checkland 1981), and systems architecting
(Rechtin 1991 and Rechtin-Maier 1997)’ [INCOSE Guide to SEBOK]
SE Design Space
• System Under Design (target)
• Context System (environment)
• Designing System (must be self aware)
 SE Design Space
• The Design Space can be further decomposed
• Es. [26]:
➢S1. Context System - Includes the Problem System P1
➢S2. Intervention system – Solution to P1
➢S3. Realization System - Resources for S2, often an Enterprise
➢S4. Deployed System - Approximates S2, modifies S1 into a modified
context S1’, possibly generates a new problem P2
➢S5. Collaborating System - Unintended interactions may lead to emergent
problems!
➢S6. Sustainment system – Provides support (fuel, spare parts,
maintainance, waste removal, retirement …)
➢S7. Competing System – provides similar functions, competes for resources
with S4
Image source: [26]
 SE Design Space

• The Design Space must

be described, using a
proper language
• Will lead to Model
Based Systems
Engineering (MBSE)
• Es. [26]:

Image source: [26]

 A Failure in understanding the SE Design Space

• Partial understanding of
S1 leads to unexpected
effects in in S1’

Image source: [25]

 SE Domains
• A possible classification [25, pp.24-29]
• Functional Requirements
• Functional Behavior
• Architecture
• Verification and Validation
 References
1) https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/system
2) Systems Engineering Fundamentals, Supplementary Text Prepared by the Defence Acquisition University Press, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, 22060-5565,
January 2001
3) Steven R. Hirshorn, Linda D. Voss, Linda K. Bromley, NASA Systems Engineering Handbook NASA SP-2016-6105, rev 2,February 17, 2017, document
ID 20170001761, https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20170001761.
4) https://www.nasa.gov/feature/release-of-revision-to-the-nasa-systems-engineering-handbook-sp-2016-6105-rev-2
5) Steven R. Hirshorn, Expanded Guidance for NASA Systems Engineering. Volume 1: Systems Engineering Practices, March 1, 2016,
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20170007238
6) Steven R. Hirshorn, Expanded Guidance for NASA Systems Engineering. Volume 2: Crosscutting Topics, Special Topics, and Appendices,
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20170007239
7) INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook, INCOSE-TP-2003-002-03
8) ISO/IEC 15288: 2002(E), Systems engineering – System life cycle processes, Geneva: International Organization for Standardization, issued 1
November 2002.
9) ISO/IEC/IEEE 16085:2021 - Systems and software engineering — Life cycle processes — Risk management
10) ISO/IEC TR 19760: 2003(E), Systems Engineering – A guide for the application of ISO/IEC 15288, Geneva: International Organization for
Standardization, issued 15 November 2003.
11) Eric C. Honour, Understanding the Value of Systems Engineering, 2014 INCOSE International Symposium, doi https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2334-
5837.2004.tb00567.x, https://incose.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.2334-5837.2004.tb00567.x
12) https://sebokwiki.org/wiki/INCOSE_Systems_Engineering_Handbook
13) https://sebokwiki.org/wiki/Download_SEBoK_PDF
14) https://sebokwiki.org/wiki/INCOSE_Systems_Engineering_Vision_2020
15) ISO 31000
16) INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook, 5° edition, 2023
 References
17) https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/27968/chapter-abstract/211591873?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=true
18) https://www.britannica.com/topic/reductionism
19) https://www.plutora.com/blog/verification-vs-validation
20) https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/life-cycle
21) https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/01/what-systems-thinking-actually-means-and-why-it-matters-today/
22) https://www.snhu.edu/about-us/newsroom/business/what-is-systems-thinking
23) https://openlearning.mit.edu/news/ask-mit-professor-what-system-thinking-and-why-it-important
24) https://www.praxiom.com/iso-31000-terms.htm
25) David Long and Zane Scott, “A primer for model Based Systems Engineering,” 2011, Vitech, available on the internet.
26) James N. Martin, “The Seven Samurai of Systems Engineering: Dealing with the Complexity of 7 Interrelated Systems,”
Proc. Of INCOSE 2004 – 14th Annual International Symposium Proceedings
27) https://www.clausewitz.com/mobile/chaosdemos.htm
28) https://blbadger.github.io/logistic-map.html
29) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2465602/
30) https://necsi.edu/chaos-vs-complex-systems
31) https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-09-12/a-brief-history-of-systems-science-chaos-and-complexity/
32) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17933949/